Tsubaki is a girl who loves making her younger sister's hair pretty every morning, but she doesn't think that kind of style suits herself! The day of her High School Beginning Ceremony, after she failed in being the top student (who usually makes the ceremony speech), she finds herself sitting next to the actual top student of the first years, the worst rude guy ever, Kyouta. She ends up cutting his hair on purpose because of the bad things he says to her. Kyouta demands that Tsubaki pay him back with her body, but Tsubaki fixes his hair instead--making it even shorter! After that, Kyouta u...
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Tsubaki is a girl who loves making her younger sister's hair pretty every morning, but she doesn't think that kind of style suits herself! The day of her High School Beginning Ceremony, after she failed in being the top student (who usually makes the ceremony speech), she finds herself sitting next to the actual top student of the first years, the worst rude guy ever, Kyouta. She ends up cutting his hair on purpose because of the bad things he says to her. Kyouta demands that Tsubaki pay him back with her body, but Tsubaki fixes his hair instead--making it even shorter! After that, Kyouta unexpectedly kisses Tsubaki and swears that he'll make her his woman.
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Seriously, how can people find a story of a guy bullying and harassing a girl romantic? Forcing a kiss just because? Even if there's going to be character development, the first few chapters are crucial. This is not a healthy start of any relationship especially because of the harrassment.

I don’t think I have words to describe how much I hate this manga. So let’s break this down: - FMC is weak, stupid, oblivious. Her only defining feature is her being stubborn as hell, and even that isn’t so great. She’s essentially an aging piece of cardboard that won’t go away. A total Mary Sue. - MMC is detestable. Seriously, gals, stay away. He’s downright abusive toward the FMC, rude, obnoxious, toxic, horrible, and just all around a terrible love interest. He’s this extreme version of the weird trope that shoujo sometimes falls into, like the “innocent girl changes bad guy” except not really in this case. He’s still an a-hole, even after he’s supposedly “changed”.

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He emotionally manipulated her several times, tried to take advantage of her “innocence” and pretend that he was superior, ignored her like a child, tried to rape her a couple times, spouted abusive words at her and bullied her before they were truly in a relationship, etc. He’s sexist, horny, and abusive. He’s awful to the bone, y’all.

- Poor attempts at a backstory, and even worse attempts at character development. Jesus, the mangaka tried to round out Kyouta’s character by “explaining” away his abusive tendencies based on his past history. Yikes. - The plot was way too stretched out for such a weak premise. It’s basically about the pains of getting into a relationship and maintaining a relationship, but twist, there’s a bunch of unnecessary drama at every end. - Plot development was even poorer. Some things went unexplained, and other parts were unnecessarily long.

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Like when he cheated on her, I think? This was near the very end, it was never explained whether or not he actually did, and I just never got the purpose of including it. Also Tsubaki’s mom slaps her at one point, I don’t think she really said sorry, and it was never really addressed later on. Like I know it’s not an extreme form of child abuse, but it’s sitll unnecessary harm on a child, and I was disappointed that Tsubaki didn’t say anything.

- Also the romantic development, I guess, was okay. If you count throwing in random romantic scenes with a thousand cliches on its back “okay”, then it was okay. But the overall relationship basically is “Be jealous” (one reviewer vehemently pointed out) and “Sacrifice everything for your love interest, including your livelihood, health, future, family, etc," (the reviewer also pointed out this). - I don’t expect much of this manga, but wow is it unrealistic. It falls into cliches, then pandering cliches at the end. I hate everything about this thing. - I’ll give the art some credit. It was nice, sometimes. - Also, I flipped through the, like, three smut scenes in it, because ew.

(Edit: I've read some of the earlier reviews for the manga, where happy fans were protesting the lower ratings. Okay, well, criticism isn't just "you're just looking for something to hate", criticism is a genuine dislike for certain aspects. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, whether it be a negative or positive one. Also, Tsubaki was not meant to be written as a weak character. She clearly was supposed to have a character growth, from an originally insecure girl to a confident, happy hairstylist, but that didn't happen. She stayed the same Mary Sue that somehow still miscommunicates everything. I don't think I can emphasize enough that younger readers should never read this. This is, to put mildly, an overrated monstrosity that glorifies and accepts all sorts of assault. Do not read this, please.)

I'm giving this a 9 instead of 9.5 because of Tsubaki. She gets so frustrating at times, most of their problems are due to her insecurities. Well, Kyouta was an ass in the beginning but when he changed, he was more or less consistent with his actions (like choosing Tsubaki over an opportunity to meet the professor).

Love the character developments! The female lead, Tsubaki was a pushover who let everyone walk over her basically. Kyouta was a selfish playboy. It was nice to see them go through many trials of love that wasn't totally unrealistic and out of nowhere. I really related to Tsubaki's worries about choosing what you want to do and getting in a good university. The relationship problems for the most part, were very real. Nice seeing them grow not only as a couple, but also as adults. My favorite and the most memorable scene/quote ever from this is

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"On the same planet, born in the same country, amidst the throngs of people, we met and fell in love."

I think it's one of the best shoujos that has overall great plot, character development, and art. Maybe you won't like it/think it's too cheesy/etc. but you can't really go totally wrong with this one, it's a classic. The artist captures the teenagers in love perfectly. Lots of cliches? Yes. Great kiss scenes? Yes.

As a veteran manga reader, I know what to expect and when to read shoujo stories. So I expect and can't complain about the clichés. Thankfully the characters commitment to each other, especially the male lead, made it better than expected.

I don't usually like drawn out mangas.. But this one was definitely worth the read. It deals with almost all of what any young love deals with and more. I would only wish that their problems weren't solved so easily. Artistry was okay.. Besides having Homer Simpson mouths sometimes.

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a 100% nerdy girl ends up at a school she didn't want to go to because she wasn't smart enough.. She ends up neigh second place to honour roll from this guy that is a total delinquent. He ends up picking on her like crazy to the point she snips off his hair.. Heathen pays her back by stealing her first kiss. He then continues to pick on her and in a way she starts becoming different as a person. More self away and self assured.. She finds out about his playboy ways but can't help but fall for him. He Breaks her heart from the get go but she doesn't give up on him.. She convinces him about her feelings and he falls for her too. That's when they go through major changes and trails... Mostly about jealousy and a sense of loss with out each other. For the most part he is this super attractive and smart guy that had a bad past with woman but changed his ways to be with her.. She was a nerd with no life or friends and she ended up having so much love around her.. They end up going to the US together and getting married.

Too much drama. Repetitive. Cliche. Maybe it's just me but I think the author seriously overused the jealousy theme in this manga, hence the words repetitive.. and cliche.. and of course too much drama (now, I'm the one being repetitive, the irony).

Anyway, I liked it at first, seriously. But the last couple of chapters are just too much for me to handle. I just.. I don't know man, I actually came to hate it. Sigh.

The art's good tho. Last thing:

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Tsubaki Tsubaki, seriously? That's got to be one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard.

Beginners! Actually not really. I just think that beginners are the only people that could tolerate the characters. I read this when I first started getting into manga in general. This is the first smut I read. I really wanted to slap the main characters at first but they get "better" as in not as horrible as before. At least the boy did. The girl becomes a little less of a doormat but still invites people to walk all over her. I also recommend it to old veteran shoujo readers that have seen so much crap they are immune to it. You'll have a hoot! There's actual comedy in here if you can look past the idiotic characters. Drama addicts will love it too.

Who shouldn't read - If you want a strong female lead - don't read. If you don't mind a weak female lead(not every girl has to kick butt or be super confident) as long she's not an IDIOT- don't read. If you don't mind a weak female lead as long as the male lead is good...the guy is an asshole. He's a poster boy for women who think "If I stay with the abuser maybe he'll change." He does "change"...kinda, but I feel sorry for the poor girls that don't remember that it's fiction. So yeah, no feminist either. If you don't care about the characters as long as there's a satisfying romance...Have you been paying attention? What kind of relationship can a doormat and a arrogant asshole have? They NEVER communicate their feelings. That's not a good relationship- don't read! Other than that, drama, drama, drama(more drama than any relationship has the right to have but that's just shoujo).

Final word- If you can look past its many flaws it's an okay manga. Not horrible(I finished it after-all...) not good either(I wont re-read it...ever). If you read it and think that it's the most romantic story you've ever read, it's soooo amazing...It might be time to branch out. I started reading this when I was 14 and I knew it was crap...

i really love the art, but seriously the female character just irritating me a lot. i think 15 volumes just too long for a story like this. if you have plenty of time, read this for wasting time (like me lol xD) if not, i suggest the other shoujo series then.

I'm seriously annoyed. I've seen this manga out there every since I started getting into shoujo, which was quite a ways ago. Anyway, this has probably been one of the more annoying shoujos I have ever encountered. Like, seriously? After the male lead craps on her, she still chooses to love him more? Wow. She takes much pride in herself and her body.

As much people are saying about opinions, I will include that I have finished it and I've always learned to finish what I started - plus I wanted to write a review, so, eh.

The manga isn't BAD, it's just the characters are very... displeasing and in the beginning degrading.